


The Struggles of a First Year College Student

by TheEmberGirl



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, I don't know how tags work, I think the teen rating has this covered, I won't tag cameos/brief mentions, Mentions of Sex, Prussia has a potty mouth, characters and ships added as they appear, don't you all just love awkward dates, just going to mention that all relationships are mostly background, strap yourselves in for a long semester, the main focus is Weimar Triangle friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7930231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmberGirl/pseuds/TheEmberGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follow engineering student Ludwig Beilschmidt as he struggles through the pressures of college life; namely his eccentric art student housemates - Feliks and Francis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introducing Ludwig

**Author's Note:**

> This fic will not make any sense, I don't know how college in America works, but this is based off exaggerated personal experiences and friends' anecdotes of a first year Australian university student (me). Emphasis on exaggerated.
> 
> The reasoning behind the trio this fic focuses on is due to a fanart of them I saw once captioned Weimar Triangle. Turns out in real life, that is a series of agreements between the countries of France, Germany and Poland to deal with crisis situations. Read the [wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Triangle), they have their own battlegroup with interesting dynamics. But of course, my first thoughts were just "imagine if they were roommates lol".
> 
> So enjoy, this fic has been around a year in the making

 

Ludwig hadn’t known what to expect from starting college a year early but he’d certainly hadn’t expected the housing program they offered to place him in the same flat as two entirely insufferable  art students.

By the time he’d arrived at the unit the others were already there; standing in the doorway, bickering over something. The taller one with wavy hair tied messily with a ribbon responded first when Ludwig cleared his throat.

‘I told you we weren’t in the wrong place,’ he said condescendingly to the student he’d been arguing with. ‘Three beds, three people.’

He tilted his head slightly towards Ludwig to prove his point.

‘Oh shut up,’ the shorter student snapped, brushing a strand of his perfectly straight chin length hair behind his ear, before turning to Ludwig. ‘I’m Feliks, and this is Francis.’

It took Ludwig an awkward moment to realise that was his cue to introduce himself.

‘Ah right, I’m Ludwig,’

He attempted to hold out a hand to shake, forgetting about the box of belongings he was carrying and almost dropping it.

‘Nice to meet you, Ludwig,’ Feliks responded diplomatically as Francis snorted. ‘What’s your course? I’m guessing you’re arts like us.’

Already embarrassed by his lack of social skills, Ludwig was hit by another surge of panic at the question.

‘Err actually, my course is engineering, maybe I’m in the wrong place…’

Feliks frowned slightly, but Francis merely laughed.

‘Relax, both of you. The department always likes to mix the type of students in the housing program.’

Feliks accepted this and turned back to Ludwig.

‘You see, Francis here took a year off after high school and now he has a superiority complex and thinks he knows so much more than the rest of us mere mortals,’

‘I don’t just think that, I do,’ Francis said before disappearing through the door.

‘See?’ Feliks hissed as he entered as well. ‘See what I mean?’

Ludwig just nodded mutely as he followed suit.

The flat was small but neatly arranged; a kitchen, a bathroom, a laundry, and two bedrooms. Francis claimed the smaller room with the single bed.

‘I got here first,’ he declared, pointing out the belongings he’d already scattered across the desk.

Ludwig shrugged and accepted the logical argument, going over to the other room with a disgruntled Feliks in tow. 

‘I’m calling dibs on the window,’ Feliks called as they entered the room, he looked like he would have argued further, but Ludwig simply nodded and placed his box down on the other bed.

‘Well you’re going to be easier to live with than Francis,’ Feliks commented as he flopped down where the light of the window hit on his bed.

As he began to unpack Ludwig wondered if trying to get along with his new roommates was giving them the impression he would be overly accommodating, he hoped not, but wasn’t sure. From the corner of his eye he saw Feliks throw most of his own belongings under his bed then hanging up a few items if clothing in their shared wardrobe before leaving the room.

By the time Ludwig had unpacked and arranged everything into an order he was happy with,  Feliks and Francis were already sitting at the kitchen table, happily discussing something to do with fashion or photography.

‘He’s done,’ Feliks said as he saw Ludwig.

‘Took him long enough,’ Francis slid off the stool he was on and stretched. ‘We need to take a group selfie in here.’

‘To post on Instagram,’ Feliks clarified

‘Exactly,’

‘I have more followers than you,’

‘Not for long you won’t,’ Francis spoke condescendingly before remembering Ludwig was in the room. ‘But first we need to take the photo. Ludwig, get in the middle and everyone smile.’

‘Say cheese,’ quipped Feliks as both he and Francis held up their phones on either side of Ludwig.

Ludwig decided he’d try and give it a week before he applied for a change of residence

* * *

Having bought groceries the previous afternoon, Ludwig finished his cereal and washed the bowl, confident that he would get to his first lecture with time to spare. Picking up his book bag, he was ready to leave when a door creaked open.

‘Morning,’ Feliks yawned cheerily, ambling out of the room he shared with Ludwig. ‘Oh nice, cereal!’

Without asking he poured himself a bowl of Ludwig’s cereal, poured the milk Ludwig had also bought on it. Ludwig frowned, but didn’t say anything, the time it would take him to get to the lecture being the most important thing on his mind.

‘You’ve got class already?’ Feliks asked with his mouth full.

Ludwig nodded.

‘That’s a shame,’ Feliks swallowed and wiped at his mouth with his pyjama sleeve. ‘I was thinking of getting another photo together. You know, first day of classes.’

‘I’m sure that’s the only reason,’ another voice spoke dryly from the opposite direction.

Feliks glared daggers at Francis, who’d just emerged from his own room, also clad in pyjamas. Ludwig looked between them in confusion, still painfully aware that the time he had to get a good seat in the lecture theatre was ticking away by the second.

‘Congratulations on your new follower count,’ Feliks snapped. ‘I’ll make sure to take a better photo next time.’

Francis looked like he wanted to retort, and Ludwig interjected before any more arguing could be done.

‘I really should go now, I don’t want to be late for my lecture,’

Francis shrugged, also reaching for Ludwig’s cereal.

‘Suit yourself, I guess we’ll see you after classes,’

By the time Ludwig reached the theatre, it was already mostly full. _Give it a week_ , he muttered to himself before searching for a seat.

* * *

Both Francis and Feliks had classes in the afternoon, which suited Ludwig fine as it meant he had the flat to himself to study in during this time. That was, after he’d washed the pile of dishes that had already piled up in the sink. He probably should have left them for his roommates to clean up themselves, but Ludwig just couldn’t stand the sight of them and decided something had to be done. Apart from that, his day had been fairly good, and he settled down to rewrite his lecture notes.

Francis returned an hour or so later, carrying bags of groceries. He left Ludwig alone and out them away before disappearing into his room. Ludwig paid him no heed, continuing with his notes and thinking that things would probably work themselves out with his roommates after all. That idea went out the window when Feliks let himself into the apartment, carrying a large folio that he dropped on the kitchen table next to Ludwig.

‘Hey, can I take a photo with you?’

Ludwig, looked up from his work in puzzlement, wondering why Feliks kept pressing on this topic. Feliks sighed, then shot a look at the closed door of Francis’ room.

‘Look, both Francis and I gained a lot of Instagram followers after posting that picture with you in it yesterday. So basically, we think it’s because of you, but also Francis has more followers than me now, so I’m going to put to theory to the test by posting another photo with you. Think of it as a scientific experiement, you do that in engineering right?’

Ludwig was sure there was something wrong with Feliks’ reasoning, but figured it couldn’t hurt.

‘Alright,’ he conceded, dropping his pen. ‘But only if you stop eating my cereal, and do your own dishes.’

‘Deal,’ Feliks agreed fervently, not seeming to have listened to the conditions at all. ‘You’re like totally cool.’

Feliks not only had not stopped eating Ludwig’s cereal, but also argued frequently with Francis about who should do their mutual daily pile up of dishes. More often than not, it was Ludwig would finally have enough of the mess and clean up as they argued. Feliks liked to study on his bed, and often ate as he did, which Ludwig wouldn’t have minded if he’d thrown out the snack wrappers, or at least made sure they didn’t end up under Ludwig’s bed.  He was willing to bet that Francis’ room wasn’t much better, but Francis didn’t let anyone in there so he would never find out. To make matters worse it seemed Feliks’ theory did, in fact, hold water and Ludwig was often pestered by both of his roommates for photos.

* * *

On Thursday, Ludwig opened the bathroom cupboard for his hair gel only to find it wasn’t there. Searching the rest of the bathroom yielded no results, so he woke Feliks up to ask him if he’d seen it. Feliks did not take kindly to having his sleep interrupted.

‘Ask Francis,’ he grumbled, throwing his extra pillow at Ludwig. ‘He said something about having a bad hair day yesterday, not that it’s not bad every day.’

With a snort at that last comment Feliks turned over and pulled his blanket over his head, instantly falling back asleep.

Ludwig crossed the apartment, ready to knock on Francis’ door when he noticed his jar of hair gel sitting on the kitchen sink. Groaning internally he picked it up and returned to the bathroom to gel his hair off of his face.

Before he left, Ludwig left a note on the kitchen table asking for any borrowed items to be replaced where they had been found. When he returned the note was still there, with a reply written on it with pink gel pen – “we’ll try, but no promises” in loopy handwriting, finished with a smiley face.

Frustrated, Ludwig scrunched up the note, threw it out, and decided it was time to do some stress baking.

He was feeling significantly happier as he carefully pulled trays of pastries out of the oven, inspecting the crust and putting them out on racks to cool. Admiring his handiwork he didn’t even hear the door open until both of his flatmates were commenting on the smell.

‘That smells delicious!’ Feliks exclaimed, leaning over to peer at the cooling racks.

Francis murmured an agreement.

‘I’m sure you don’t mind sharing with us,’ he said as he reached for a pastry.

‘Well, I did make more than can person can eat,’ Ludwig acquiesced, taking one for himself.

Somehow, by the next morning, when Ludwig intended to heat a pastry for breakfast, they were all gone.

* * *

 

 ‘Oh my god, you’re a baby!’ Feliks laughed as he read the birthdate on Ludwig’s student card.

‘Give my wallet back,’ Ludwig groaned, attempting to grab it off Feliks, who merely darted out of the way.

‘Hey Francis!’ Feliks called. ‘Ludwig here is a year younger than me.’

‘That’s interesting,’ Francis didn’t appear to have listened to what he’d said, busying highlighting a textbook.

‘Feliks, stop messing around, I’m late to class,’

Francis looked up from his book at this point and smiled devilishly.

‘Hi, “Late To Class”, I’m Francis,’

Ludwig resisted the urge to throw something heavy as Feliks burst into howls of laughter.

* * *

 

The Student Services office was near empty. Half of the harsh fluorescent lights were either blown or flickering and the entire place screamed that it was in need of some seriously funding.

‘Hello, how can I help you today,’ the assistant at the window wearing a name tag that said “Eduard” asked.

‘Err, I have some inquiries about the residential program. You see, I’m currently residing in one of the college subsidised units and—’

‘Oh wow, you’re so lucky! I applied for those two years in a row and didn’t get one… Sorry please continue,’

‘And I’d like to transfer to one of the dorms if possible—’

‘Why on earth would you want to do that?’ Eduard almost exclaimed.

‘Roommate problems,’ Ludwig replied flatly.

Eduard looked sympathetic.

‘Look, I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear but; you should probably try to get along with them,’ he looked around his desk and put together a sizeable amount of paper. ‘This is all the paperwork you’ll need to fill out if you want a transfer, and even then it could take months because the department doesn’t give two shits about us. They’ll also keep your deposit on the unit and make you pay the dorm fees at the same time. You can have the paperwork, but it’s not worth it if you ask me.’

‘Thanks,’ Ludwig muttered as he took the stack of paper. ‘I’ll need to have a think about this,’

‘Don’t rush it,’ Eduard called after him as he walked away.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ludwig's troubles will continue in the next chapter


	2. How not to make friends (and influence people)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How (not) to spend your college weekends
> 
> Previously: Ludwig was disappointed after going to Student Services to file for a ~~divorce~~ change in living arrangements.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning to do a double update, seeing as I had a week off from uni, but that didn't happen. So here's just a timely update.

The visit to Student Services had been pointless, Ludwig flipped through the papers on his way back to the apartment and dumped the entire lot in a recycling bin after reading two pages. As unfortunate as it was, Eduard had been right, it simply wasn’t worth his time. He braced himself as he unlocked the door; finding the office had taken longer than he’d expected and both of his housemates would have finished class by now.

‘You’re back!’ Feliks exclaimed as he saw Ludwig. ‘Francis was getting worried something had happened to you,’

Francis put down his sketchbook to look archly at Feliks.

‘That was _you_ , I said that he was probably studying at the library,’ he turned to Ludwig. ‘Which was exactly where you were, right?’

Ludwig made a non-committal sound.

‘Whatever,’ Feliks waved a hand dismissively at Francis. ‘But seeing Ludwig’s back, we should start our movie night.’

‘What?’ Ludwig asked in bemusement.

‘Friday nights are movie nights, duh,’

Francis laughed at Feliks’ dramatics but closed his sketchbook nevertheless.

‘Surely you’re not too busy to join us?’ He asked Ludwig with a hint of mockery in his voice.

‘Umm…’

‘I’m taking that as a yes,’ Feliks said in an overly serious tone.

‘I guess,’ Ludwig said uncertainly, he could always start working early the next morning.

‘That’s the spirit!’

Feliks clearly had no idea what personal space was, dragging Ludwig by the arm toward the couch in the corner of the kitchen.  Francis kept his distance from them, noting Ludwig’s frustration with unhelpful amusement.

Somehow Ludwig ended up wedged between the two on the couch as they began to argue over what movie to watch. The apartment had not come with a television, and the solution Feliks had come up with was Francis’ laptop perched atop one of the kitchen chairs and the movie selection offered by Netflix.

‘It’s my account so I should choose what we watch,’ Francis argued.

‘Oh pur-lease,’ Feliks countered. ‘You’d be miserably watching movies and moping in your room if I hadn’t come up with this.’

‘I do not _mope_ ,’

‘Then what were you doing after the first day of classes?’

‘It’s called _having an existential crisis_ , I didn’t expected there’d be so many assessments.’

‘Aha! So you don’t know everything about college after all!’

‘Can we concentrate on our current argument?’ Francis snapped.

 ‘Fine,’ Feliks’ smug expression did waiver. ‘Maybe we should ask Ludwig.’

‘Umm…’ Ludwig said again as two sets of eyes focused on him. ‘Disney movies are good?’

‘You really _are_ a baby,’ Feliks chortled. ‘Oh no, don’t get offended. Like, Disney is great and all, but it is like, way too early in the semester for that.’

‘As much as I hate to agree with Feliks, he’s right,’

‘Okay,’ Ludwig fell uncomfortably back into silence

So the argument continued, until a consensus was finally reached half an hour later.

‘Titanic!’ Feliks concluded triumphantly, pushing Francis’ hand off the mouse pad in order to click on it.

‘I can live with that,’ Francis sighed. ‘But be careful with my laptop.’

‘I heard it’s a good movie,’ Ludwig offered.

Francis and Feliks stared incredulously at him.

‘You’ve never watched _Titanic_ before?’  They asked in unison.

Ludwig shook his head, wishing he hadn’t spoken.

‘Well it’s about time then, right Francis?’

‘Of course,’

Ludwig looked from side to side in bafflement as some sort of message passed between the two, but before he could ask, Francis hit the play button.

If there was one bad habit that Ludwig had when it came to watching movies, it was getting emotionally attached to the characters. Already sitting on the edge of the couch as Rose and Jack held on to the same piece of driftwood, his eyes watered as he realised what would happen next. As his fears were confirmed, he hoped neither of his housemates would notice the hitch in his breathing.

No such luck there, it was almost as if the two had waited for this to happen, which given their cryptic conversation before the movie started, they probably had.

‘Happens to everyone at least once,’ Feliks said blithely, holding out the tissue box as Ludwig sniffed.

‘Have some ice cream,’ Francis handed over the large tub with a spoon after returning from the fridge.

Feliks placed a blanket over Ludwig’s shoulder s as he shakily dug into the ice cream.

‘I don’t understand why that had to happen,’

‘We know,’ Francis said, patting him on the back.

* * *

Surprisingly, Ludwig was left mostly alone for the rest of the weekend. One week in and he was already picking up on the study habits of his housemates. Francis liked to study in his room, with the door firmly shut, so whether he really was studying was debatable. Feliks liked to study on his bed, muttering to himself as he did, however the amount of studying he managed to do was also debatable. As the room he shared with Feliks didn’t have a desk, this left Ludwig the choice of studying at the kitchen table, or at a library. With everyone else either confined to their rooms, or leaving for some party or another, Ludwig found the table to be a more efficient use of time.  So everything he’d intended to do was done, and Ludwig even had time to do some definitely -not-stress-induced-baking towards Sunday afternoon.  Naturally this drew but Francis and Feliks from their rooms.

‘Mmm, smells good,’ Feliks peered over Ludwig’s shoulder into the oven. ‘Whatcha baking?’

‘Lebkuchen,’ Ludwig replied without looking away from the oven. ‘It’s a family recipe.’

‘Homesick already?’

Both of them jumped as Francis spoke from behind them.

‘You’ve got to, like, stop doing that,’ Feliks grumbled.

‘Doing what?’ asked Francis innocently.

‘Sneaking up on people!’ Feliks just about yelled.

‘Firstly, I do not _sneak_ , that’s my natural grace. Secondly, it’s not my fault that people here are so _twitchy_.’

‘ _Oh you_ —,’

‘Excuse me, Feliks. I need to take the biscuits out of the oven.’

‘Oh right! Sorry! Mmm cookies!’

Ludwig sighed internally as the other two watched him expectantly, having forgotten about their argument.

‘Wait until they’ve cooled down, or you’ll burn your fingers,’ he warned as Feliks inched a hand towards the cooling rack.

Feliks immediately withdrew his hand and went to his room to gets his books as he waited, Francis did the same. Ludwig began to do the washing up, glad he’d already finished his homework.

‘This is good,’ Feliks said through a mouthful of lebkuchen after they had cooled.

‘Indeed,’ Francis agreed after wiping his mouth.

Ludwig hoped his pride over the comments wasn’t too obvious.

‘We should make dinner together,’ Feliks continued, grabbing another biscuit. ‘And then I can paint everyone’s nails.’

‘What?’ asked Ludwig, not sure if he heard right.

‘It’s a good idea,’ said Francis.

‘Not the dinner part, the nail part,’

‘They’re both good ideas,’

‘What?’

‘So is this a “yes”?’ Feliks asked, interrupting them.

‘Yes,’ Francis replied, cutting off Ludwig. ‘Feliks is very good at painting nails.’

‘Damn right I am,’

‘That’s why he never gets anything else done,’

‘Hey!’

Dinner turned out not-disastrously. After making an inventory of all the groceries they had, Feliks decided on a family recipe of his own – something called pierogi. While Ludwig had no idea what they were making, at least the instructions Feliks gave were clear, and Francis had eased off on the quips about homesickness.

Pierogi turned out to be some form of dumpling, not that anyone was complaining, or even dared to think of complaining with Feliks observing their reactions intently as they ate. Sensing that Feliks was waiting for some form of feedback, Francis put down his plate and sighed dramatically.

‘You can stop staring at us, Feliks. It tastes like food. There, I said it.’

Feliks glared at him.

‘They tasted really nice,’ Ludwig supplied quickly, hoping to diffuse the situation.

‘Thanks, Ludwig. You know, for being a nice person, unlike some people, _Francis._ ’

‘I was simply being honest…’

‘How about I do the washing up!’ Ludwig said over the both of them. ‘Then you two can go finish your homework before tomorrow.’

Feliks and Francis looked at each other across the table, then came to a truce.

‘Fine,’

‘Fine,’

Ludwig breathed a short lived sigh of relief, as Feliks opened his mouth again.

‘Don’t forget, I’m painting everyone’s nails as soon as I finish writing about different types of fabric,’

Feliks had more bottles of nail polish than Ludwig had pens in his pencil case, which wasn’t actually that much, but the point still stood. All three of them were sitting in a circle of sorts on Feliks’ bed, with the large collection of mostly polishes in the centre. Before calling them in, Feliks had already painted his own nails a glittery pale pink and was now waiting for them to choose the colours they wanted.

‘I have a philosophy tute first thing tomorrow,’ Francis said blandly. ‘So I’ll go with black.’

‘You’re so boring,’ Feliks muttered, but complied nevertheless.

While Francis inspected his newly painted black nails, Feliks turned to Ludwig.

‘Alright your turn, take your pick,’

‘Umm, I don’t know. Do whatever you want.’

Ludwig figured that whatever Feliks did to his nails, he could remove before his classes the next morning. After all, he had seen the bottle of nail polish remover in the bathroom cabinet.

‘ _Cool_ ,’

Feliks ended up painting a different shade of pink on each of Ludwig’s nails, then added glitter on one hand. Francis had slouched over, careful to keep his hands clear of anything in case Feliks shrieked at him, watching the scene with amusement and the occasional unhelpful suggestion. Conversation about classes; complaints about tutors and lecturers followed as they waited for Feliks to deem their nails dry enough for them to use their hands. Ludwig listened more than speaking, not having as much in common to share, but in all honesty, it had been a nice evening.

* * *

Ludwig woke up feeling refreshed on Monday morning. He had coffee with his breakfast, brushed his teeth and left for class before either of his housemates even woke up. It wasn’t until he’d taken a seat in the lecture theatre that he saw it, something that caught the light as he wrote the day’s date and the lecture title in his notebook, the glitter of pink nail polish that he’d forgotten to take off on his hand.

‘ _Goddamit_ ,’

* * *

Expecting Feliks to organise another movie night, Ludwig left the library early on Friday night. However, what greeted him as he opened the door was Francis and Feliks having yet another argument.

‘Piss off Francis! I _do_ have a boyfriend and you just don’t believe me because you’re _jealous_.’

‘Oh? I’ve never seen this “boyfriend” on your Instagram before…’

‘It’s called _privacy_!’

‘Sure…’

‘I don’t have time for this; I’m going on a date with him right now!’

‘A date with your non-existent boyfriend?’

‘A date with my _very real_ boyfriend, thank you very much,’ Feliks hollered as he stomped out of the door. ‘Oh sorry Ludwig, didn’t see you there. Catch you later!’

Ludwig stepped inside to find Francis standing beside the door with a scheming expression.

‘You don’t have any plans for tonight, do you Ludwig?’

‘Umm, not really… Why?’

‘We need to follow Feliks,’

‘ _What_?’ spluttered Ludwig.

‘Look,’ Francis sighed, changing his demeanour. ‘I’m just worried about him. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t actually have a boyfriend so who knows what he’s really up to.’

‘What if he really does have a date?’

‘Then we’ll leave straight away, promise,’ Seeing Ludwig wasn’t entirely convinced, Francis continued. ‘If you come along you can make sure _I_ don’t get into trouble.’

He had a point there. Ludwig wondered if he would regret his next decision, which he probably would.

‘Fine,’ he accepted. ‘But I’m holding you to that promise.’

‘ _Of course_ ,’ Francis dismissed Ludwig’s serious expression. ‘Now we better hurry, he’s already had all the time we were debating to get away.’

Feliks had just turned the corner by the time they made it onto the street.

‘Let’s go,’ Francis hissed, before tugging Ludwig’s arm and breaking into a light jog.

The entire journey through the city continued that way; with Francis either pushing or pulling Ludwig into corners whenever he thought there was a chance Feliks would look around.

‘Are you sure this was a good idea?’ Ludwig grumbled in one particularly dirty alleyway.

‘Positive,’ Francis replied easily. ‘For all we know he could be meeting up with a pot dealer.’

Again, Francis had a good point. Ludwig sighed and followed as Francis motioned for them to continue following Feliks.

The idea it was a pot dealer Feliks was meeting with became more and more unlikely and they moved into nicer districts, but Francis was adamant about tailing Feliks and Ludwig had no choice but to follow him. Finally Feliks walked into a cosy looking restaurant and Ludwig decided it was time to call it a day. Francis however, had other ideas.

‘We don’t know if he’s really meeting someone. For all we know he’s eating alone and then it’s our duty as his friends to sit with him.’

Ludwig wanted to point out several flaws in Francis’ logic, but before he could Francis had already walked into the restaurant.

Inside, Feliks was busily chatting with a dark haired male of around their age, pecking him on the cheek as he sat down beside him in the booth.

‘Let’s leave now,’ Ludwig felt like he was intruding. ‘That’s obviously Feliks’ boyfriend, we should go.’

‘I want to stay for a little longer,’ Francis brushed him off, moving towards the booth.

‘Francis you promised,’ Ludwig said a little too loudly.

‘What are you two doing here?’

Both Ludwig and Francis froze guiltily as Feliks peered out from the booth, eyes narrowed and furious. Naturally, Francis found a way to make it worse.

‘Oh what a coincidence,’ he said charmingly as he recovered from being caught out. ‘Ludwig and I were here to get dinner too.’

‘ _Sure_ ,’ Feliks muttered.

Francis took a seat across the couple they’d intruded on and dragged Ludwig with him.

‘Aren’t you going to introduce us?’ He asked Feliks innocently.

Feliks gritted his teeth then forced a smile.

‘Toris,’ he said to his dark-haired boyfriend. ‘These are my flatmates Ludwig and Francis. Ludwig and Francis, this is my boyfriend Toris.’

He sent a pointed look at Francis on the last part.

‘A pleasure to meet you,’ Francis said cordially, ignoring Feliks.

Ludwig awkwardly mumbled something he hoped sounded like agreement.

Toris, on the most part, looked confused. With Feliks stubbornly refusing to provide an explanation, he asked a question after a few moments of strained silence.

‘So is this a double date?’

 ‘Yes!’ Francis said cheerfully before Ludwig could say anything.

Ludwig put his face into his hands, Feliks glared across the table at both of them and Toris was even more confused than he had been before he asked.

* * *

Ludwig spent the weekend after the absolute disaster of a “double date” avoiding his housemates as much as he could, spending hours in the library studying. When he returned to the flat on Sunday afternoon, he found them waiting expectantly in the kitchen.

‘What?’ he asked them as they kept watching him, it was slightly unnerving.

Feliks and Francis looked at each other, then Feliks spoke:

‘We were wondering,’ he began. ‘If you were planning to bake something, and if so if you wanted any help.’

Ludwig hadn’t exactly planned this, but it wasn’t as if he’d never given it a thought either.

‘Well,’ he said deliberately. ‘I actually wasn’t.’

‘But-,’ Feliks began, then came to a realisation. ‘If this is about Friday… I didn’t mean anything I said at dinner.’

‘And I’m sorry I dragged you into the mess in the first place, then told embarrassing fake couple stories. It just seemed like a good idea at the time.’ Francis added. 

Apologies were a start, but that didn’t change the fact the other two never did much cleaning around the place.

‘Well that’s nice and all. But you two never clean up after yourselves, _especially_ in the bathroom.’ He said pointedly.

Feliks and Francis looked slightly affronted. Ludwig sighed.

‘Go clean the bathroom and I’ll make brownies,’

That did the trick.

‘Aye aye captain,’ Feliks crowed happily. ‘Dibs on not cleaning the toilet.’

‘That means you’re cleaning the shower…’ Francis pointed out.

Feliks shrugged.

‘You’re cleaning the toilet,’

Ludwig put his books away and found the ingredients he needed to make brownies, smiling as he did. It seemed it was possible to live with his flatmates after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, Gilbert is introduced as a constant presence... on the phone
> 
> The next update is scheduled for 1 November, but I have the second exam out of four on that day so I make no solid promises..


	3. Phone calls from Gilbert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brothers can sometimes call at all the wrong times
> 
> Previously: Ludwig began to adjust to living with his roomates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update so I can work on something else as soon as exams are over...

One thing that Ludwig knew would be constant in his life was that his brother Gilbert would call him, without fail, at least once a week. Gilbert was a year older than Ludwig and a self proclaimed “non-genius”, meaning he too was starting his first year of college. However, Gilbert was also an animal lover determined to become a vet, so he was half a state away, enrolled in one of a few colleges that offered Veterinary Science. Ludwig missed him significantly, but wished he wouldn’t call at the most inconvenient times.

Ludwig’s phone began buzzing, and a quick glance at the screen confirmed it was his brother. With a brief sigh and a fond smile he picked up the call.

‘Hello Gilbert,’

‘Lutzi!’ Gilbert’s greeting was as energetic as usual. ‘How are you? Housemates still giving you trouble?’

‘I’ve been good, and they’re easier to live with now,’ Ludwig took a look at the door to make sure neither Feliks or Francis has chosen this moment to return from wherever they’d gone. ‘How about you?’

‘Fairly awesome,’ Gilbert was probably striking a pose on his side of the call. ‘But my neighbours are still at it _every single night._ They’re like fucking rabbits. I don’t know how they keep it up.’

Ludwig stifled a groan, glad that Gilbert wasn’t beside him to tease him about the flush that had appeared over his cheeks. It also wasn’t the first time Gilbert had complained about this and Ludwig didn’t want any further details.

‘Surely one of them isn’t supposed to be in the dorm,’ He stated. ‘Can’t you report that? Or at least tell them to be quieter?’

‘Nope, Roderich Edelstein – hah, even his name is prissy – is a bona fide teacher’s pet and fucking musical genius,’ Gilbert had began on a spiel and Ludwig it could be a while before he stopped. ‘And his girlfriend? Erzsébet Héderváry. Everyone thinks she’s the coolest girl ever, bitch basically has the entire campus wrapped around her fingers. First of all; no one at administration would even believe that perfect, perfect Roderich would break dorm rules. Secondly, I can’t just politely tell them to knock it off because Erzsébet would _kill_ me. That woman is crazy, _and_ she hates me, I must have given her the wrong look once or something because the next thing I know, she’s glaring daggers at me in every lecture and all of her friends hate me as well. Just my luck she turned to practically live next to me as well.’

There was a pause in the melodramatics and Ludwig took the opportunity to change the subject.

‘That sounds rough,’ he said sympathetically. ‘But how are your classes going? Weren’t you really excited about one of your labs?’

‘Oh yes!’ Gilbert’s tone immediately brightened. ‘The dog lab! We were supposed to be learning about dental health and parasites, but it was really chill and all the assessments were done quickly. Then we just spent the rest of the hour petting the dogs. It was actually great.’

‘What type of dogs?’

Now Ludwig was just as excited about his brother, he’d had to leave his own dogs behind with their parent and had been resorting to petting random dogs he’d seen on campus.

‘A few different types… couple of dachshunds, a Dalmatian, and the rest were Labradors. So basically it was a lab lab!’

Gilbert cackled at his own pun and Ludwig joined in with the laughter.

‘I’m not disturbing your work or anything?’ Gilbert asked soberly after the laughter died down.

Ludwig looked down at the papers he’d spread across the kitchen table.

‘Not at all,’

If Gilbert could tell he was lying, he didn’t mention it, and their conversation continued until Feliks walked through the front door followed by Francis.

‘Who are you talking to? Your girlfriend?’ Feliks asked curiously.

‘Are those your housemates? I think I’ll leave you to it.’ Gilbert said with amusement before promptly hanging up.

Ludwig listened to the silence for a few moments before setting his phone down at looking up at two sets of expectant eyes.

‘Don’t be shy, tell us,’ Francis prompted. ‘We’re your cool older flatmates and can help you through any relationships problems.’

‘Yeah, like, one time Toris and I—,’

‘Not now Feliks, I’m talking,’

‘This is exactly why you’re still sing—,’

‘Shhh,’

Feliks glared at him.

‘Come on, Ludwig,’ Francis continued as if nothing had happened.

‘I was talking to my brother,’ Ludwig sighed, not wanted to deal with the duo’s antics at the moment.

‘Oh come on, you can tell us,’ Feliks gave an exaggerated pout. ‘You’re always on the phone, it’s like you kept it completely secret.’

‘I was serious, now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go the library to catch up on some work,’

As he walked out he heard Feliks say to Francis:

‘The fact he didn’t finish his work definitely means that wasn’t a brother,’

Ludwig rolled his eyes and kept walking.

* * *

Unfortunately for Ludwig, both Francis and Feliks were now determined to find out the identity of his “Mystery Girlfriend”, despite the multiple times that Ludwig had tried to tell them she was nonexistent. However, by the next day they seemed to have accepted the truth and moved on, but Ludwig should have known to never count his chickens before they hatched, especially if it involved his flatmates.

That night as Ludwig checked the details of his notes, his phone buzzed to announce he had a text. That was odd in itself as not many people had Ludwig’s number and both his parents and Gilbert preferred straight up calling over texting. Unlocking his phone revealed a text from Francis:

_Ludwig, I’ve accidentally left my keys in my room and Feliks won’t open the door because he’s an obnoxious brat. So could you please let me back into the apartment :)_

Ludwig frowned, Francis had gone into the room Ludwig shared with Feliks to discuss sometime arts course related as he often did, but Ludwig hadn’t recalled him actually leaving the apartment. Then again, Francis _was_ an unnaturally quiet walker and Ludwig had been very absorbed by his notes. The idea of Francis having an argument with Feliks before walking out to clear his head seemed highly plausible.

_Alright, I’m coming._

Ludwig pressed the send button before walking towards the door, watching the screen as Francis seemed to be typing a reply. He looked up a second too late when Felik’s door opened as he walked past.

‘Got it!’ Feliks exclaimed triumphly as he brandished Ludwig’s phone.

‘Hurry up and check who’s been calling him,’ Francis said from behind him. ‘I did not waste credit for this not to work.’

‘Right on it!’ Feliks pressed on Ludwig’s phone screen a few time. ‘Recent call history:  27 calls from someone called Gilbert— Oh…’

‘What?’ Francis asked impatiently.

‘Beilschmidt,’ Feliks finished with a deflated air.

Ludwig would have found the situation amusing if he wasn’t so irritated.

‘I told you so, now give my phone back,’

He held out his hand towards Feliks, who at least had the decency to guilty as he returned Ludwig’s phone. Francis however, looked unapologetic as usual. Ludwig glared at him.

‘Get out of my room,’ he said angrily, pushing past Francis to lie down on his bed.

Francis complied, leaving the room without a word. Feliks stood awkwardly for a few more moment before sitting down on his own bed. A few minutes of silence passed before Feliks cleared his throat.

‘Hey, I’m, like, sorry for breaching your trust or whatever. Okay that sounded bad. I’m bad at apologies okay?’

He laughed nervously to himself when Ludwig didn’t move.

‘Look, I really am sorry,’ he continued. ‘I didn’t think about what I was doing and I get it if you’re angry at both me and Francis. Who I’m not apologising for, by the way, he can do that himself. Anyways I’ll, like clean the bathroom and I’ll make Francis wash the dishes with me. Just don’t stay angry at us forever; it’s barely halfway through first semester.’

To his credit he hadn’t mentioned anything about baking, but still Ludwig ignored him. Feliks sighed and after a while Ludwig opened an eye to watch him furiously texting someone. Eventually, Feliks left the room, presumably to talk to Francis, and Ludwig pressed his face further into his pillow, still too frustrated to get up.

* * *

He must have fallen asleep without realising it, because the next morning Ludwig woke up still dressed in day clothes, with a fuzzy feeling in his mouth, hand cramped from having gripped his phone the entire. Someone had covered with a spare sheet, which was a nice gesture, but Ludwig wasn’t quite ready for a truce yet. Checking his phone revealed it was low on battery and that he had half an hour until class, having not turned on his alarm the previous night.  Swearing so profusely that even Gilbert would have been impressed, Ludwig stuffed his books into his bag and ran out of the apartment, ignoring the smell of crepes from the kitchen and not noticing the concerned looks his housemates gave him.

His phone rang when he’d made it halfway across campus. Ludwig picked up without even looking at caller ID.

‘Gilbert?’ he winced at his own tone.

‘Wow, someone’s grumpy,’ Gilbert spoke nonchalantly before his tone became serious. ‘Okay, real talk – What’s wrong, Lutzi?’

‘Apart from the fact you’re calling at the wrong time? No wait – sorry – don’t hang up.’

‘I’m all ears, little brother. Talk up. Who do I need to brutally murder?’

This got a shaky laugh from Ludwig before he sighed and relayed the entire story.

‘So your housemates really thought I was your girlfriend?’ Gilbert said incredulously when Ludwig finished venting. ‘They might be a bit too stupid for me to murder then.’

Ludwig laughed again and Gilbert took this as his cue to continue:

‘Look, those two idiots went too far with their fucking espionage or whatever shit, but you do have to live with them for a while, so I just suggest going harsher with that brownie bribery regime you have going already if you can’t forgive. Also you said you missed breakfast, so skip your lecture and buy yourself some then go to a later lecture or watch it online. Look after yourself, kiddo.’

‘Thanks Gilbert,’ Ludwig saw the sense in his logic. ‘Did I mention you’re the best older brother ever?’

‘Not fucking enough! But seriously, if those two give you any more trouble you can’t handle, put me on speaker phone so I can yell at them for you. Now go get breakfast, I’ll call you back tonight.’

* * *

Ludwig took his brother’s advice, and with a little reshuffling of his lectures, arrived back at his apartment only an hour later than usual. Neither Francis nor Feliks were back from their classes yet, but there was a Tupperware container in the middle of the kitchen table. A folded over note with his name written on it in smooth black ink and elegant handwriting was taped onto the box. Curious, Ludwig detached the note from the container and opened it.

“ _We saved you one of the crepes I made for breakfast. Also don’t wait for us tonight, Feliks and I are going to get dinner together. Just thought we’d give you some space._

_– Francis”_

The crepe was cold and slightly soggy, but it still admittedly tasted good, and another pleasant surprise was the lack of dirty dishes and utensils in the sink. Ludwig figured that this was Francis’ way of apologising and took advantage of the time he had alone to get started on his Introduction to Quantum Mechanics assignment. Gilbert called again around eight o’clock, and Ludwig quickly closed his laptop to pick up the phone.

‘How’s my favourite little brother going?’

‘I’m your _only_ brother, Gil,’

‘Oh shush,’ Gilbert pretended to be affronted. ‘How was your day though?’

 ‘It was actually alright,’ Ludwig smiled to himself. ‘I took all of your advice and everything worked out. Feliks and Francis didn’t come back for dinner either, so I guess they really are sorry.’

‘As they should be,’ Gilbert affirmed. ‘But anyway, what are you doing right now? I think you mentioned something about an assignment last week?’

‘That was the Basics of Engineering one,’ Ludwig clarified. ‘I submitted it already, I _do_ have another one for Quantum Mechanics but it’s not due for two weeks.’

‘Oh good, so I’m not interrupting anything important,’

‘Not at all,’ Ludwig had figured by now Gilbert had a story he wanted to tell. ‘What’s happening on your side of the state?’

‘So this may sound weird,’ Gilbert began. ‘But I think my roommate is a vampire.’

‘Wait, you have a roommate?’

Gilbert had never mentioned a roommate before, and Ludwig had just assumed that he’d been lucky enough not to have been assigned one.

‘Yeah, and I never see them, which was fair enough. I mean they could just have a completely different timetable to me, possibly more friends and lower sleep requirements. I like to get a solid ten plus hours so that leaves a window of a couple of hours for, say, a six hour sleeper to enter and leave the dorm without me leaving. I guess they do leave some books lying around sometimes but I’m a decent person and don’t snoop so I have no idea who they are.’

Ludwig took a moment to digest this.

‘And what makes you think that they’re a vampire now?’

‘Well, last night, I woke up at probably two am to like a cold feeling and, well, hissing. And then the window creaked shut and there was like a figure standing next to it, it was really creepy. I didn’t say anything and the shadow just moved across the room and sat down on the other bed. I swear my roommate’s a vampire and flew in through the window!’

Ludwig rubbed at his temples, noting that his brother sounded completely serious.

‘You’ve just been watching too much _[Carmilla](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4QzRfvkJZ4&list=PLbvYWjKFvS5rX2yv-k5AJ8oxPoZ9zHcpe)_ , Gilbert,’

The last time he’d checked Gilbert had been hooked on the webseries and had forced Ludwig to watch the entirety of its first season with him.

‘Maybe,’ Gilbert admitted. ‘But I still think they’re a vampire.’

‘Just don’t do anything stupid like Laura does okay? That’s just unreasonable.’

‘It’s fine, I don’t have any intention of putting garlic around the room, or kidnapping or whatever…’

‘Good,’

Their conversation then veered on to home, their dogs, the misadventures Gilbert’s bird had as well as particularly unpleasant lecturers and tutors. At about nine, Gilbert stifled a yawn, and decided it was probably time for him to sleep.

‘Stay awesome, little bro. I love ya.’

‘Goodnight Gil,’

* * *

Over the next week Feliks and Francis stepped on eggshells around Ludwig, which suited him fine for the first few days; the apartment was quiet, with no constant arguing, and the dishes were always clean without prompting. But the novelty soon wore off, and the atmosphere of the apartment was unnaturally uncomfortable.

‘I know you’re there,’ Ludwig sighed, catching Francis tiptoeing across the apartment from the corner of his eye.

‘I was just going to ask Feliks if he could help me with a composition assignment, he’s not answering his phone,’

‘You don’t need to explain yourself—,’ Ludwig groaned and ran a hand through his hair, words had never been his strong point. ‘Look… Actually go get Feliks; all three of us need to talk.’

 Francis looked slightly relieved as he went to do exactly that, and Feliks soon emerged from his room, looking quite nervous.

‘So…’ Francis began with a diplomatic gesture as Feliks picked at his nails beside him.

‘I’m not angry with you anymore,’ It was a relief for Ludwig to say that. ‘You’re both annoying and disruptive and you fight all the time and sometimes you really don’t know what personal space or boundaries are.’

Feliks squirmed, and even Francis began to look uncomfortable.

‘But,’ Ludwig continued. ‘It’s really weird when you’re both trying to avoid me. So how about we just all go back to normal – minus the part where you take my things without asking?’

Both of his housemates nodded, and Ludwig wondered how long this cooperation would last.

‘Alright, why don’t we all bake something together then?’

* * *

The next few days appeared to be full of arts assessments, because Feliks had been blasting music in his room nonstop and the occasional stream of swearing could be heard coming from Francis’ room. Ludwig sat at his usual spot by the kitchen table, working on his own assignment and wincing as the sound of heavy objects falling followed by swearing came from Francis’ direction. Naturally, Gilbert took this opportunity to call.

‘Lutzi! Wait, isn’t that a song from Eurovision a couple of years back?’

‘Yeah, _[My Słowianie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8J3GAg5zaI)_. Feliks is having a bad time with an assignment.’

‘Ha, our parents get so upset every time Germany doesn’t do well… So does this mean everything’s okay between the three of you now?’

‘Yeah, it got to weird not to talk to them around to acting like themselves again after a while,’

‘That’s good to hear… Speaking of good news, guess what?’

Ludwig could only imagine Gilbert’s excited expression.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘We got snowed in by a freak storm today and all classes were cancelled, so I finally got to meet my roommate, who’s _probably_ not a vampire,’

Over the phone Ludwig heard something that sounded like a muffed “ _definitely not”_ in the background.

‘I guess I don’t have you worry about you getting in trouble for setting up a trap in your dorm now,’ Ludwig said with amusement. ‘It sounds like the two of you are getting along.’

‘Oh we are! Arthur’s been feeding Gilbird when I have labs, which makes him a decent person in my books. Also the reason he’s never in the room is because he figured the after-hours zone in the library is the best way to avoid the Wonder Couple next door.’

Ludwig heard Gilbert’s roommate snort.

‘Now that’s smart,’ Gilbert continued. ‘Apart from the time he accidentally stayed the whole night there, but I think I’ll join him from now on because, who’ve had guessed, Piano Boy and Crazy Lady are still at it. And the two am wake up thing? I accidentally left the window open and Arthur noticed a raccoon had gotten in when he came back from the library, the rest is pretty self explanatory.’

There was more laughing on Gilbert’s side of the call, and something that sounded like a question about tea. Ludwig was glad that his brother wasn’t having any roommate problems, even if it had taken half a semester for them to actually meet.

‘I’m guessing the raccoon was the thing that hissed?’ he ventured.

‘Yep you’ve got that right – Oh you made one for me, thanks! – Sorry about that Lutzi, I just got handed a cup of tea – Ouch! It’s hot!’

Trust Gilbert to try and drink something without registering exactly what it was while he was multitasking. Ludwig grinned to himself and he heard something close to “you’re an idiot” in the background.

‘I guess I’ll leave you to it then, don’t want you burning yourself with that,’

‘Oh shut up, Ludwig. But you have a point, talk to you soon.’

‘Bye,’

* * *

 

‘Is everything okay?’ Ludwig asked at dinner, remembering the earlier swearing and the loud music that had been playing up to the point of the food being ready.

‘Completely fine,’ Francis answered, rubbing at a patch of paint still stuck on his hand. ‘Getting started was…difficult… but my mid semester still life piece is going fine.’

‘I have no idea why I ever picked history as my minor!’ Feliks said huffily, stabbing viciously at a piece of broccoli on his plate. ‘This assignment sucks!’

Ludwig had done well in history at high school, particularly liking the part about the Roman Empire. He’d had been slightly disappointed at not being able to continue it due to his choice of course.

‘Oh I like history, I could help you out. What’s the subject?’

‘Twentieth Century History – wars are so overrated. “Analyse the causes of conflict” is such an annoying question. I can remember dates and all, but _analysing_? I choose to major in fashion design so I wouldn’t have to go into depth with this shit!’

‘I can help with analyses, just show me the exact question after dinner,’ Ludwig said earnestly.

Francis chuckled and stretched lazily.

‘ _History_. You two are such nerds. Should have chosen philosophy like me, Feliks. The tutor encourages napping in class and pretty much any answer is right.’

‘You can go shove that pretentious philosophy bull crap up you arse, Francis!’

The bickering continued from there, proving that they were most definitely back to normal, and Ludwig found that he much preferred it this way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, Feliks and Francis get a little more limelight as come up with a new way of making Ludwig's life difficult.
> 
> The next update is scheduled for 1 December. But in the meantime keep your eye out for the Carmilla AU I'm planning - Anyone who came here from my tumblr might already have some idea of what will happen. And yes, the entire idea was kind of spawned by the whole "I think my roommate is a vampire" thing.


	4. All's well that ends well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feliks and Francis feel that Ludwig needs some help with his love life
> 
> Previously: Gilbert's constant phone calls to Ludwig led to misunderstandings between the housemates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this update being so late, but I had some personal things come up and this chapter is a lot longer than the last one.

It was early on a Saturday morning and Francis was already arguing with Feliks again. Francis had exited the bathroom with damp hair and a matted ball of muddy yellow fuzz in his hand and promptly began blaming Feliks for clogging the shower drain.

‘I had to pick up your hair with _my hands_ , Feliks,’ Francis complained. ‘Do you know how disgusting that is,’

‘Yeah; because you’re waving that gross wad of hair in my face.’ Feliks retorted. ‘And it’s not even my hair!’

This same argument occurred on a weekly basis, but at least the other two had the good sense to never accuse Ludwig of blocking the drain due to the fact he was the only one who ever cleaned up the bathroom after he showered. However if this argument carried on for much longer, Ludwig would have to find a quieter place to finish his homework.

‘Are you saying it’s my hair then?’ Francis sounded offended.

‘That’s _exactly_ what I’m saying!’

‘Then why was it in the drain when _I_ started showering?’

 ‘It was already in there before I showered!’ Feliks was beginning to flush in anger. ‘And you were the last person to use the shower last night!’

‘I’m still saying this is mostly _your_ hair,’ Francis refused to back down.

‘Well excuse you! My hair is straight, unlike the majority of the fur ball you’re holding over there!’

Feliks was right, the strands that were sticking out of the now mostly dried ball of hair were indeed wavy.

‘That’s the only thing about you that’s straight,’ Francis muttered sulkily after a moment’s silence, knowing he’d lost the argument.

‘Says you!’ Feliks retorted. ‘You’re just jealous that I happen to have a boyfriend and you don’t.

‘I could date anyone I wanted to,’ Francis sniffed. ‘I just don’t want to date anyone right now.’

‘Oh yeah?’ Feliks jeered, triumphant with finally beating Francis at an argument. ‘More like nobody wants to date you and your “I’m so much better than everyone” attitude.’

Francis opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted by the sound of a chair scraping across the floor. Ludwig had packed all of his books into his bag and gotten up from the table, wincing at the sound the chair had made.

‘I’m off to the library,’ he explained as the two whose argument he’d interrupted looked over at him, and without another word he exited the apartment.

Francis and Feliks looked at each other after he left, argument momentarily forgotten.

‘You know,’ Feliks ventured.  ‘How does a guy as good looking as him not have a girlfriend?’

Francis murmured an agreement.

‘Maybe because he spends too much time studying and doesn’t get out enough,’ he said after a moment of thought. ‘We should set him up on some blind dates.’

‘That is actually a good idea,’ Feliks conceded. ‘If you weren’t such a pretentious shit, I’d be calling you a genius—,’

Why thank you,’

‘Shut it Francis, don’t forgot I was winning that argument,’

‘Save that for another time, right now I’m trying to figure out which one of my friends would be a good date for Ludwig,’

‘Pssh, I’m sure he’d be more interested in _my_ friends than that philosophical bunch you hang out with,’

‘In your dreams, Feliks. Now, help me decide on where to send this future couple on a date to.’

* * *

Ludwig returned from the library to find his roommates waiting for him at the kitchen table, in a way that unnervingly reminded him of the scenes of family intervention that Gilbert had received in his childhood.

‘Is everything alright?’ he asked uncertainly.

‘Oh yes, perfectly fine, better than fine actually—,’

‘I’ll take it from there,’ Francis interrupted. ‘Ludwig, you’re going on a date tomorrow.’

‘What?’ Ludwig wasn’t sure he’d heard right.

‘Now you’ve just scared him,’ Feliks chided. ‘Ludwig, sit down.’

Feliks waited until Ludwig did as he was told then continued:

‘Look, Francis and I have decided to do you a favour and set you up with a girl—,’

‘It was all my idea actually—,’

‘Will you just let me explain the necessary details?’

‘Me showcasing my genius _is_ a necessary detail,’

Ludwig wondered for at least the fifth time whether Francis practiced the offended expression he was currently wearing, before registering what had actually been said.

‘Do I have a choice in this?’ he asked warily.

‘Nope,’ both Feliks and Francis replied blithely.

‘Besides,’ Francis assured. ‘Your date is a lovely lady, even if I have to say so myself.’

Feliks grumbled something that sounded like “ _of course you would_ ”.

‘Now for the details that are actually relevant,’ he added. ‘You’ll be meeting with Manon at one PM tomorrow at that nice Italian café a just off campus. It’s a great place, Toris and I go there all the time.’

‘Now who’s the one with giving unnecessary details?’ Francis smirked smugly.

‘Shut up, Francis,’

‘I thought it might be helpful to tell you that we’ve booked table three for you. You know, seeing Feliks forgot to mention it.’

Feliks looked torn between rebutting and accepting the fact that Francis had been right. Ludwig felt the beginnings of an oncoming headache.

‘Alright then,’ he sighed, unsure what he’d signed up for as he got up from the table and headed for his room.

* * *

Arriving at the café five minutes early, Ludwig nervously located table three and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. A waiter with a name tag reading “Feliciano” greeted him with a smile.

‘First date?’ he asked Ludwig cheerfully.

‘Yeah,’ Ludwig managed to mumble in reply.

‘You look nervous,’

‘Yeah,’ Ludwig said again.

‘Don’t worry too much,’ Feliciano spoke blithely. ‘Good food is the key to anyone’s heart, and we have plenty of it here.’

‘Ah, thank you,’

For some reason Ludwig did feel more relaxed talking to Feliciano, but before he could think of anything to say, a young woman with glasses and neatly braided blonde hair tied with a ribbon walked up to the table. Feliciano winked at Ludwig, mouthing “ _good luck_ ” before disappearing behind the front counter.

‘You must be Ludwig,’ the woman said as she checked the table number.

‘Err… Yes that’s me,’ Ludwig stumbled over his words and quickly tried to remedy the situation. ‘You must be Manon… Umm, I mean nice to meet you.’

Manon giggled and sat down across the table from Ludwig.

‘Francis was right about you being charming,’

‘Oh… Thanks?’

Manon giggled again.

‘What he _actually_ said was that you were “awkwardly charming” – his words exactly,’ she shrugged. ‘If he’s given you any warning about me, he might have said that I’m brutally honest.’

‘Oh,’

Once again, Ludwig was at a loss for words. Manon seemed to sense this and waved a waiter over.

‘It’s okay,’ she reassured him. ‘We can talk after we order, the philosophy study groups come here a lot.’

To Ludwig’s disappointment, the waiter who wasn’t Feliciano, but a taller brunet with a similar amount of cheerfulness whose name tag read “Antonio”. Ludwig simply picked the first item on the menu, while Manon took a few moments to decide. After Antonio left, she began their conversation again.

‘So, it’s established we’re both students,’ she began. ‘What do you study then?’

Over the course of the next then minutes, Ludwig learnt that Manon was a music student. She played the clarinet and was particularly fond of classical music, particularly the works of someone named Dalayrac, of whom Ludwig had never even heard of. Nevertheless he nodded as if he understood, and answered the question she asked him about what he found interesting about engineering. It turned out Manon lived in the dorms, and was quite jealous of Ludwig’s apartment situation, despite the anecdotes he gave about living Francis and Feliks. Ludwig was quite relieved when the food arrived, not only because he was beginning to feel hungry, but also because he’d have an excuse not to talk. The conversation hadn’t been entirely awkward, but Manon just so happened to ask questions like an interrogator, even if she did give the same amount of detail about herself.

After he’d finished eating, Ludwig quickly came up with an excuse about needing to be somewhere else and offered to pay the bill. Manon accepted and Ludwig left in relief, already wondering what his brother would say when he relayed this story later that night.

* * *

Feliks was waiting for Ludwig when opened the door.

‘How’d it go?’ he asked excitedly, clearly having more faith in Ludwig than Ludwig himself ever did.

‘Umm…’

Ludwig was saved from answering by Francis, who was sprawled lazily across the couch, clearly in the middle of texting somebody.

‘You could have just asked me, you know,’ he said, looking momentarily up from his phone. ‘Manon has been telling me all about the date already.’

‘Well?’ What happened?’ Feliks demanded, turning his attention away from Ludwig.

Francis smirked at Ludwig and shook his head slowly.

‘You really need to work on your game, my friend,’ Francis sounded amused as he scrolled up through the messages on his phone. ‘Let’s see… Manon says that you were “the most awkward person she’s ever been on a date with” and that you “obviously didn’t want to be there”.’

He raised his eyebrows as if expecting an explanation and Ludwig cringed internally.

‘Ouch,’ Feliks hissed empathetically. ‘Hey, how about we try this again, like next week? Obviously Francis here picked out the wrong girl for you. But I have a friend – Katya, who’s really sweet and I’m sure the two of you would have a really nice date.’

‘I really…’ Ludwig paused as both of his roommates looked at him expectantly.

‘Feliks has a point,’ Francis sighed dramatically. ‘Manon might not have been the right choice. I’ve gotten used to her and forgotten how harsh she can seem to people who’ve just met her.’

‘Yeah! Go for it!’ Feliks nodded enthusiastically.

‘I guess…’ Ludwig reluctantly agreed. It was hard to disagree with Feliks when he was passionate about an idea, besides, at least the food had been delicious and quite affordable.

‘Yes!’ Feliks clapped his hands together. ‘You’re not going to regret this.’ He promised.

‘I hope so,’ Ludwig muttered to himself as he went into his room.

* * *

One o’clock Sunday afternoon rolled around again and Ludwig once more found himself seated at table three of the nice Italian café. Having been given some advice potentially unhelpful advice from Gilbert, he felt slightly more prepared than he’d been the previous week and casually took a look around the place. Most of the tables in the spacious but cosy café were filled, there were several students frantically scribbling or typing over a cup of coffee with a muffin or salad, a large group of student pouring over papers spread out over a table, and even a few professors who Ludwig recognised simply having lunch.  Soon enough, a familiar waiter approached the table.

‘Second date?’ Feliciano asked.

‘Oh no,’ Ludwig clarified. ‘The first one went disastrously and my roommates have set me up with someone else.’

‘They sound like they’re very helpful,’ Feliciano offered.

‘A bit too helpful,’ Ludwig said honestly. ‘I didn’t ask them to do this.’

Feliciano laughed, and Ludwig noticed it was a very nice laugh; friendly and somewhat musical.

‘So a bit of a handful then?’

‘Pretty much,’ Ludwig laughed as well, before wondering if he should introduce himself and did it without thinking too much. ‘I’m Ludwig, by the way.’

‘Nice talking to you, Ludwig,’ Feliciano said with an odd smile. ‘I’m Feli, in case you couldn’t tell by the tag. Also I think your date is here…’

Ludwig looked in the direction of the door and saw a woman with a flushed round face and blonde hair styled into a bob rush over to his table.

‘Hi! Sorry I’m late! I’m Yekaterina – Katya.’

She stopped to take a breath and straightened her clothes, looking slightly flustered.

‘Err… I’m Ludwig. Nice to meet you.’

Ludwig held out his hand before realising that wasn’t usually what people on dates did. Katya shook his hand uncertainly.

‘I’m not actually sure what I’m doing,’ she admitted.

‘Same here,’ Ludwig tried to remember what Gilbert had said the previous night. “ _Look for something in common to talk about”_ , right. ‘I guess we can both just blame Feliks for this?’

‘Yes…’ Katya spoke with a slight frown.

‘Umm… The food here is nice,’ Ludwig offered.

‘Really?’ Katya picked up a menu. ‘Do you come here often.’

‘Not really, I was just here on a date last week,’

Katya didn’t look away from the menu, but Ludwig noticed her frowning again. Perhaps mentioning his last date hadn’t been a good idea. Once again he questioned why he’d agreed to put himself through this.

The rest of the afternoon progressed just as awkwardly. Ludwig had asked Katya if she had any pets, hoping to be able to talk about his dogs, unfortunately this only led to Katya informing him she was allergic to dogs, and the conversation only got worse from there. No matter whatever Ludwig said, it always seemed to be the wrong thing to say. Finally Katya mentioned she had to leave for a study group. Ludwig offered to pay for their lunch and Katya looked like she wanted to argue for a moment before she simply nodded. Feeling like he’d done something wrong, Ludwig waited for Katya to pick up her things and leave before paying and tipping Feliciano generously for being sympathetic.

* * *

When Ludwig got back to the apartment, Francis covered his mouth and snickered, which earned him a glare from Feliks.

‘Be nice for once, could you,’ Feliks spoke disapprovingly. ‘It’s not like you can get a date either.’

‘I could _totally_ get a date,’

Ludwig ignored Francis, which was starting to become a thing he and Feliks habitually did.

‘What did I do wrong?’ he asked Feliks, despair creeping into his voice.

‘I don’t think you _actually_ did anything wrong,’ Feliks patted Ludwig on the arm. ‘She just thought you were a bit intimidating.’

From across the living room, Francis snickered again, before ducking into his bedroom to avoid being lectured by Feliks.

‘Thanks,’ Ludwig deadpanned.

Feliks shrugged.

‘You’re welcome, I guess,’

* * *

 

‘And so she thought you were _intimidating_ ,’ Gilbert howled with laughter on the other end of the line. ‘It must be your height, baby brother. It must be your height.’

Ludwig waited for the wheezing on the other end to stop.

‘It’s not _that_ funny, Gil,’

‘I know, I know… but ahahaha— Alright I’ll stop, I’m in the library and also Arthur fell asleep.’ Ludwig heard some shuffling of paper from the phone. ‘Okay, in all seriousness though, did you like her?’

‘What?’ Ludwig wasn’t sure why Gilbert was asking.

‘Just answer the question, Lutzi. Did you like her?’

‘Not really?’ Ludwig sighed. ‘I mean we didn’t actually get to talk that well but I’m not sure if she was my type…’

‘Then there you go, it wasn’t a complete disaster. You didn’t like her, cut your losses and move on.’

‘It makes sense when you put it take way,’

‘That’s what awesome big brothers are here for,’

Ludwig could practically see his brother grinning.

‘Thanks, Gilbert,’

‘No problem, good luck with that next date your crazy roommates have set you up on,’

* * *

 

On Wednesday Ludwig received a call from Feliks. Wondering what was so urgent that Feliks couldn’t wait or at the most just text him, Ludwig picked up his phone.

‘Is there something wrong?’ he asked, concerned.

‘Oh nothing to worry about,’ Feliks said flippantly. ‘Like I mean I have a tute I have to be at in ten minutes but are you at home?’

‘Yes…?’ Ludwig wondered if Feliks actually had a point he was planning to make.

‘Right, cool! So Francis and I just met an exchange student called Jackie at the Arts Meet and Greet, and she’s pretty keen on getting to know some local guys… Long story short, we scored you a date. Like I know Francis is already trying to get one of his friends to meet you on Sunday, but nothing’s set in stone yet and he can easily cancel it if you hit it off with Jackie tonight.’

‘Tonight? What if I had plans?’

Ludwig knew that Feliks and Francis thought they were helping him, but really it was a bit tiring.

‘Do you have plans?’ Feliks countered.

‘No,’ admitted Ludwig.

‘Then what do you have to lose?’ Feliks demanded. ‘Look, if you really don’t want to go, it’s cool cos we just told her it’s a nice place to eat and also one of our single friends might be getting dinner there too. But if you do want to meet her, be at Vargas’ Café at seven o’clock and table three’s your lucky number again. Now I really have to get to class, bye.’

With that Feliks hung up. Ludwig sighed and rubbed at his temples. It was currently a bit past five and it would only take him around an hour to finish his notes. Feliks was right, he might as well meet this Jackie, and besides he’d at least see Feliciano if nothing else went right.

* * *

 

A girl with a deep tan and long dark brown hair pulled into an unruly ponytail sat with her back to the door at table three as Ludwig entered the bustling café. Weaving around the packed tables, Ludwig nearly bumped into Feliciano, who was carrying empty plates back into the kitchen.

‘Oh hey!’ Feliciano exclaimed happily upon recognising Ludwig. ‘I’ll talk to you later, my brother will get annoyed with me otherwise.’

Before Ludwig had time to register what he’d said, Feliciano had disappeared into the kitchen. Shaking his head, he made his way over to table three to greet its occupant.

‘Hi, are you Jackie?’

The girl scrunched up her face. Up close Ludwig could see the flyaway hairs that framed her face and the muddy hazel green of her eyes. She was pretty, in a very different way to his first two dates, but what really struck Ludwig the most about her was her accent when she spoke.

‘Yeah, that’s me,’ Jackie’s accent was unmistakably Australian. ‘Only started going by that when I got here, folks back home used to call me Sheila. You’re Ludwig right?’

‘Yes, I’m Ludwig. My roommate said he just met you today.’

‘Which one? I met Francis and Feliks at the same time.’

If anything Jackie was friendly, smiling as she spoke, leaning across the table to hear Ludwig better over the noise of the other diners, a marked difference from the previous two.

‘Feliks – Francis doesn’t like to call people,’

Jackie nodded.

‘Those two are pretty cool, but I think they could be a hassle to live with,’

‘You’ve got that right,’ Ludwig inched the bridge of his nose.

Jackie laughed, not quite as nicely as Feliciano, but an infectious sound nonetheless.

Conversation was fairly easy with Jackie, she was indeed from Australia and currently studying politics – “there’s too many asshole politicians around you know, I wanna get in there and change up the game” – and had studied physics in high school, which allowed her to follow along when Ludwig talked about engineering. When asked about why she was known as Sheila in Australia, Jackie laughed.

‘It’s a bit of a funny story,’ she waved her fork to make her point. ‘So sheila is Aussie slang for a girl, and I was the first girl born into my Granddad’s family in ages, basically everyone kept calling me “our little sheila”, until it stuck and even my friends and teachers started calling me Sheila.’

‘That is pretty funny,’ Ludwig agreed.

Jackie flashed him a grin, eating a mouthful of food before talking again:

‘Your turn to tell a funny childhood story,’

Ludwig told her about his childhood misadventures with Gilbert and the family dogs. In turn Jackie recounted holidays with her “rowdy cousins” and showed him photos of her Australian Kelpie, Patchy.

‘I miss him so much,’ she sighed as she put her phone away. ‘The worst part about being away from home is I can’t scratch his ears while I’m doing homework or watching tellie. At least Mum and Dad always makes sure he’s with them when I Skype.’

After they’d both finished eating, Jackie eyes Ludwig seriously.

‘Look,’ she folded her hands and looked away for a moment. ‘You’re a cool guy and all, Ludwig, but I think I’d rather just be friends with you. That alright?’

‘Oh, umm, sure,’ Ludwig blinked, he’d forgotten he was supposed to be on a date and not just talking to a new friend. ‘I think you’re cool too… In, umm, a friend way.’

Jackie laughed pleasantly, pushing her chair back slightly to allow herself room to stretch her legs.

‘That’s great! We should go drinking sometime.’

‘I’m under the drinking age…’

‘Oh I forgot that it’s twenty-one over here,’ Jackie frowned at her mistake. ‘The legal drinking age is eighteen in Australia, so whatever.’

‘I’m actually not eighteen yet,’

Jackie stared at him for a moment.

‘Wow, you must be pretty smart then,’ she whistled, looking impressed. ‘But hey, underage drinking is Australia’s unofficial nation al sport.’

Winking, Jackie cocked a finger gun at Ludwig in an exaggerated gesture that made him laugh.

‘I guess I’ll go pay the bill then?’ he asked, still chuckling.

‘Oh hell no!’ Jackie shook her head furiously. ‘Don’t do that, we can split the bill. We just met, it’s only fair.’

Ludwig agreed and they each paid their own part of the bill, before preparing to go their separate ways.

‘I’m serious about getting drinks or just hanging out sometime,’ Jackie said as they exited the café together. ‘Add me on Facebook – Jacqueline Kirkland. Spelt with a “Q”; Granddad got a bit fancy suggesting my name and my parents just went with it.’

* * *

 

 On Sunday morning Francis still had not told Ludwig whether the date was still going to happen, and Ludwig secretly hoped that Francis’ friend had cancelled. As usual, he had no such luck.

‘Hey Ludwig,’ Francis called, looking away from his phone with a satisfied expression. ‘You going on a date today, you know the drill.’

Ludwig stifled a groan, keeping his eyes on his unfinished assignment.

‘That thing’s not due for a week,’ Feliks eyed the date on Ludwig’s assignment from across the kitchen table.

Ludwig brushed away a pink feather off of his notes; Feliks was sewing some sort of feathery jacket and the bag of feathers he was using kept spilling across the table.

‘If it’s because you don’t want to pay for lunch, don’t worry, it’s on me. Laura owes me some money and I told her she could settle it by buying your lunch.’

‘Wait, you set him up with _Laura_?’ Feliks looked at Francis incredulously, his face lighting up as if he’d just heard a joke Ludwig wasn’t in on.

‘She is a gorgeous woman,’ Francis informed Ludwig, after seeing his concerned expression. ‘I’d date her myself, but she isn’t my type.’

‘Liar!’ Feliks exclaimed, mouth stretching into a Cheshire cat grin. ‘You asked her out and she turned you down, she told me!’

‘Fine, I did get turned down, but just that once,’ for once was Francis who was losing composure.

Feliks cackled, dropping his needle onto the table to avoid poking himself with it.

‘No it wasn’t,’ he said smugly. ‘I remember the time you tried to ask that one cute barista out – he flat out refused you.’

‘He was probably just trying to be professional!’

‘But I was there the whole time, and he was interested right up until you started trying to hit on him,’

‘Shut up, Feliks!’

Francis picked up his textbook with a huff and began to highlight pages viciously. Feliks raised an eyebrow then turned to Ludwig, still looking smug.

‘This means I won, right,’

Ludwig had to agreed, and laughed alongside Feliks as Francis screeched at them:

‘You did _not_ win! And Ludwig, you have a date you should be going to!’

* * *

 

If he had to use a word to describe Laura, Ludwig would have to say “bubbly”. Walking in with a spring in her step, short golden curls framing a heart shaped face set with wide green eyes; Ludwig could see why Francis had tried to ask Laura out. Ludwig often had trouble talking to girls, particularly ones who also happened to be pretty in the bright feminine way Laura was, but this proved to not be a problem after he recognised their waiter.

‘Toni!’ Laura exclaimed with pleasant surprise as Antonio approached their table. ‘I thought you weren’t studying this year, what are you doing here?’

‘Oh I decided to work before I went back to studying, and a friend of my put a word in to get me this job, it’s pretty nice,’ Antonio replied with as much oblivious cheerfulness as ever.

‘That’s good! I’ve missed you.’

All throughout the meal, Laura kept asking Antonio questions whenever he passed their table, and Antonio would stop for a few minutes to answer them, leaving no room in the conversation for Ludwig. Ludwig felt like the third wheel at his own date, and awkwardly excused himself to the bathroom. As he slowly made his way back to the table, Feliciano came out from behind the counter to talk to him.

‘Your date seems a lot more interested in the waiter than you,’ he observed, the small frown he wore looking out of place on his usually happy cheery face.

‘She apparently knows him from high school,’ Ludwig shrugged, glad to have an excuse not to go back.

‘Don’t worry, he’ll have to stop talking to her soon, or else my brother will get mad at him. Especially seeing he’s the one who got Antonio this job.’

‘Huh, you mentioned your brother last time too,’

‘Oh yeah! This is our grandfather’s café and Lovino is the staff manager, he’s always trying to make Grandpa happy and doesn’t like it if we talk to the customers too much. Though I’m sure Grandpa loves to talk to people as well.’

Ludwig nodded, being a family owned and operated business explained why the food was so good. He looked over to the table where Laura was now laughing at something Antonio had said.

‘I don’t care what my roommates say this time, I’m not going on another blind date,’

‘Oh,’ Feliciano sounded disappointed. ‘I was just getting used to seeing you all the time.’

* * *

‘This is the last time,’ Ludwig said forcefully, as Feliks and Francis debated whether they should up their “wingman game” and accompany Ludwig to the café. ‘And no, I don’t need you two to come with me.’

‘Fine, fine,’ Feliks sighed. ‘But I don’t actually know your date this time. Katya was the middle man – lady – whatever, in this. She said her cousin Natalya also needed some help with her love life so she encouraged her to meet you. From what I’ve heard, Natalya isn’t as shy as Katya, so you’ll be fine.’

Natalya was already seated by the time Ludwig arrived, she was facing the door and narrowed her eyes as he approached.

‘Are you Ludwig?’

‘Ah yes erm… Natalya?’ Ludwig swallowed nervously.

Natalya gave a curt nod, seeming to judge Ludwig with her heavily lined ice blue eyes. Black seemed to be her favourite colour; her limp platinum hair was pushed back with a black velvet band, black lipstick contrasted again her pale skin, and studded black bands encircled her neck and wrists. Ludwig had no idea why Katya would have suggested this idea to Feliks. If she’d found Ludwig intimidating, then Ludwig was most definitely intimidated by Natalya.

‘Err… How are you?’ he decided to strike a conversation with her.

‘Well I’m alive,’ Natalya said detachedly.

‘Yeah, that’s always nice,’ Ludwig gave a nervous chuckle. ‘The weather is pretty good today.’

Natalya shook her head in disbelief, and let out a short bark of angry laughter.

‘I can’t believe I agreed to this,’ she whipped a strand of hair from her face as she spoke. ‘When Katya said she thought she’d found the perfect guy for me, I didn’t expect someone as _boring_ as you.’

With that she stood up from the table and strode towards the door, leaving Ludwig looking dumbfounded as she left.

‘Bad date?’

Ludwig heard Feliciano ask the question from behind him and smiled at the waiter’s voice, turning back around to answer him:

‘Yeah, I don’t know what I said wrong. Do you do take away?’

‘We do,’ Feliciano confirmed. ‘Come up to the bar and pick something you want.’

Ludwig did just that and bought a chicken Panini. Feliciano heated the sandwich for him before handing it over with a slice of cake wrapped in a napkin.

‘Our homemade tiramisu,’ he explained. ‘It’s on me. It’ll be a good pick me up after the terrible time you just had.’

‘Oh thank you, I’ll umm tell you what I think of it after I try it,’

‘I’m sure you’ll like it,’ Feliciano smiled and waved him off.

* * *

 

The Panini was delicious, and the tiramisu even more so, but the best thing of all was what Ludwig found on the napkin after he’d finished the cake. As he went to wipe the crumbs from his mouth with the napkin Ludwig noticed several lines of writing. A phone number, followed by:

“ _Call me : ) – <3 Feli”_.

* * *

 

‘So you two have been dating for how long now?’ Gilbert asked for clarification.

‘About three weeks, yes,’ Ludwig replied.

‘And your roommates just found out?’

‘Yeah… I left my phone unlocked on the table,’

Gilbert’s laughter sounded tinny over the bad phone connection, but Ludwig joined in nevertheless.

‘How did they react?’

‘They were so disappointed that I didn’t need their “wingman skills” to end up with Feli, though I guess they helped, just not in the way they wanted to,’

Gilbert laughed again and Ludwig felt smug remembering the stunned expressions from his housemates earlier.

‘You enjoy your date today then,’

‘Thanks, Gilbert. I’ll be sure to.’

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, exam season is approaching and stress levels are at an all time high in the apartment.
> 
> The updating schedule should be back to normal with the next chapter set to be posted on the first day of next year. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the next chapter of my Carmilla AU if you're interested in mystery and vampires.


	5. Exam Season Madness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ludwig steps up as the "Team Mum" when the entire apartment caves into exam time pressure, as usual he's following Gilbert's advice
> 
> Previously: The dates Feliks and Francis set Ludwig up on didn't quite go as planned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about this ridiculously late update, but everything I thought I was finished dealing with in November came back with a vengeance in December.

The pre exam period had arrived and the anxious energy in the apartment had never been higher. Ludwig barely saw either of his roommates save for when they left their rooms for a bowl of instant noodles or another cup of coffee, a rarity for the outgoing duo by any standards. In fact Ludwig was beginning to feel concerned for both of them; while neither Feliks nor Francis had many exams to sit, they both had essays and assignments due, which they seemed quite stressed out over. Sighing, Ludwig carefully tidied his physics formula sheets and got up from the kitchen table, resolving to make lunch – after all, they could all do with a proper meal. The fridge was decently stocked and Ludwig hummed as he threw out a few items past their use by date before gathering the ingredients he needed. Feliciano had recently taught him a few different ways to make pasta, and he figured it would be the simplest thing to make at the moment. As enough spaghetti for three boiled in a pot, Ludwig chopped up the vegetables in preparation for the sauce, they were out of meat, but the tin of lentils he’d found would have to do. Straining the cooked spaghetti, Ludwig decided to inform his housemates that lunch would soon be ready before he made the sauce. He knocked on Francis’ door first but received no answer. Francis’ room had been declared off limits to everyone else and Ludwig usually obeyed rules and wishes, but right now he decided making sure the other two ate healthily was more important.

‘Francis?’ he called as he twisted the knob and slowly pushed the door open, freezing as the smell and sight of the room hit him.

Francis had set up an easel in the middle of the room, and various tubes of paint were strewn around the floor, which explained the decidedly chemical stench of the room. What could not be explained was why Francis was staring at his canvas, mouth open and emitting a low pitched scream.

‘Uh okay,’ Ludwig said as his eyes darted from Francis to the canvas, to the empty cereal bowl sitting on the desk, to the dirty jar of paintbrushes, to the tubes on the carpet, and back to Francis. ‘I was just letting you know that lunch will be ready in about half an hour.’

Francis didn’t appear to hear him.

‘I’ll, umm, leave you to it then,’ Ludwig pulled the door shut as carefully as he’d opened it and decided to try his luck with Feliks.

The door to the room he shared with Feliks was slightly ajar, but that wasn’t what was amiss, what was odd however, was the lack of loud music emitting from behind the door.

‘Feliks?’ Ludwig pushed at the door with the tips of his fingers, wondering if the roommate in question was taking a nap.

He was almost right. Feliks laid on the floor beside his bed, surrounded by a sea of fabric scraps, staring vacantly at the ceiling, a pair of fabric scissors grasped limply in his right hand. Behind him, an impressively sequined dress sat semi completed on a mannequin.

‘Feliks?’ Ludwig called again. ‘Are you alright there?’

Feliks seemed to snap out of his trance, dropping the scissors in order to prop himself upright. Then his face contorted into an expression of pain, and too late, Ludwig noticed the dropped box that had spilled pins all over the fabric scraps. Feliks glared at Ludwig and began screeching in a language that definitely wasn’t English. Ludwig decided it might be time for him to get back to cooking.

‘Umm, I’ll just go finish making lunch then,’ he said quickly, shutting the door completely as he left.

Eventually the smell of cooking pasta sauce drew the two arts students out of their rooms.

‘Mmm, smells good, Ludwig,’ Feliks made no sign of having any recollection of their encounter only half an hour ago, aside from occasionally rubbing the small of his back where the pin must have stuck.

‘Want me to help out with plating?’ Francis asked, in his way of showing he was thankful for the fresh food.

Ludwig and Feliks glanced at his paint stained hands, then at each other.

‘I’ll do it!’ Feliks blurted, rapidly opening the cupboard door the plates were behind.

‘Francis, you might want to go wash your hands,’ Ludwig suggested as Feliks handed him the plates.

Francis disappeared back into his room and reappeared just as Ludwig finished setting up the table with Feliks’ help, hands reeking of turpentine.

‘Francis, go wash your hands,’ Ludwig groaned as Francis tried to sit down.

‘But I just did,’ Francis protested.

‘I think he meant with water, not turps,’ Feliks added helpfully.

‘Oh,’

‘Don’t forget to use soap as well,’ Feliks called after him as he made for the bathroom.

* * *

‘Are you guys alright?’ Ludwig asked halfway through the meal, which the other two appeared to be enjoying.

‘Completely fine,’ Feliks replied noncommittally, waving his hand at Ludwig.

‘Same here,’ Francis said in a similar tone, concentrating his attention on twirling up a single strand of spaghetti.

‘Are you sure?’ Ludwig pressed on. ‘Because Francis, you were screaming at your canvas when I opened your door, and Feliks, you were lying on the floor staring at the ceiling.’

‘He was probably having an “existential crisis” as he waited for the paint to dry,’ Feliks snorted with less bite than usual.

‘Are you saying you weren’t having one in that pigsty you call a workspace as well?’ Francis retorted, with more tiredness than acerbity in his tone.

‘Hey, I knocked over a box of pins and didn’t want to pick it up,’

‘Well paint can take a long time to dry,’

‘Fair enough,’ Feliks spoke as he finished eating and got up to put his plate into the sink, leaving Ludwig baffled at how that hadn’t escalated into an argument.

* * *

Although he also had exams coming up, Gilbert somehow found the time to call. Granted the calls were a lot shorter than usual and Gilbert was frequently distracted.

‘Okay I’ve got to go soon, I’ve have a study date to be at in about ten,’ Gilbert sighed and Ludwig swore he heard a whispered “ _I wish it was an actual date_ ” but didn’t press the topic. ‘But I suggest you try studying with your flatmates. Look, I get that the three of you have completely different subjects, but I study with Arthur a lot, and he’s a Lit major. My point is, studying with other people cuts down stress, and from the sounds of what you’ve been telling me, that’s what everyone over on  your side needs.’

‘Thanks Gilbert, that sounds like a good point. I’ll give it a try.’

‘When have I ever failed you, little bro?’

* * *

 

Having three people all working at the kitchen table was definitely a little too crowded for comfort, especially as there was respectively a dressmaker’s mannequin and easel on either end of the  table, but Ludwig was determined to make his brother’s suggestion work. Ludwig sat at the middle of the table, pouring over his physics textbook, physics was both his first exam and the one he was the least prepared for. Feliks sat to his right with an array of needles strewn in front of him, humming cheerful sounding tunes as he sewed sequin after sequin onto satiny pale pink fabric with a look of intense concentration on his face, occasionally getting up to hold drape the fabric against the mannequin. On Ludwig’s other side, Francis stood in front of his easel, muttering to himself as he added touches of colour to various parts of the canvas. Next to him on the table were a jar of brushes and two mugs; one filled with coffee and the other with water to wash the brushes in.

As space limited as this arrangement was, Ludwig could at least be glad that this allowed him to prevent his roommates from unconsciously doing things that would cause themselves harm.

‘Francis,’ Ludwig warned as he saw Francis reach for the wrong mug. ‘That’s your paint water.’

‘Ah right, thanks,’ Francis muttered distractedly and he put down and picked up the same mug again, eyes never leaving his canvas.

‘Francis!’ Feliks joined in with a slight eye roll this time, and Francis finally took a look at what he was doing and picked up the right mug.

‘Thank you,’ he said, looking genuinely grateful after taking a sip.

Ludwig nodded absently and continued reading, hearing Feliks make a noise of acknowledgment from beside him.

Not long afterward Feliks hissed as he pricked his finger, dropping the needle and the fabric he’d been working on to the floor. Ludwig looked over at him in concern, but Feliks merely waved him off, sucking at the droplet of blood that appeared on his index finger. Moments later, just as Ludwig had refocused his attention on a particularly difficult to understand paragraph, Feliks picked up his dropped work and screeched.

‘ _Son of a bitch!_ ’

‘Are you okay? I’m not sure if the neighbours heard you.’ Francis quipped, paintbrush held poised in hand as he looked over at Feliks.

‘The thread fell out and now I’ll have to rethread the damn needle,’ Feliks growled with frustration, pushing his hair out of his face and rubbing at his eyes.

Francis shrugged and turned away, and Ludwig was about to do the same before he noticed how dangerously close Feliks was holding the needle to his face as he attempted to rethread it. Face scrunched up in angered determination, Feliks held the needle less than an inch away from his eye, tip tilted towards his his.

‘Feliks,’ Ludwig began, than flinched as Feliks dropped his arms furiously, almost grazing his own face with the needle as he did so.

‘ _What?_ ’ snapped Feliks, evidently annoyed at Ludwig’s interruption.

 ‘You were holding that needle too close to your eyes. If you want to see the eye more clearly, maybe it would help to thread it by the window?’

Feliks admitted that it was good advice, but grumbled about having to get up all the way to the kitchen window and back.

Everything went smoothly for the next while or so, with the occasional interruption from Francis asking Feliks for his opinion on the painting’s colour composition: “It has to be perfect, okay”, or from Feliks questioning either of the other two on whether his sequins were sewn on straight: “I can’t tell anymore, my eyes are tired”. Either way, their working pattern had fallen into a comfortable lull, so Ludwig was surprised when his name was called out as he was reading a rather confound confounding page of his textbook.

‘Ludwig... Ludwig.’ Ludwig blinked as Francis waved a hand in front of his face. ‘You’ve been staring at that same page for almost fifteen minutes.  Are _you_ alright?’

‘Yeah, at first I just thought all the pages looked the same, but then I noticed you hadn’t turned a page in about ten minutes,’ Feliks added, snapping a thread off with his teeth before trimming down the end neatly with a pair of scissors.

‘This paragraph just doesn’t make any sense,’ Ludwig vented, jabbing at the line that was frustrating him, before realising neither of his art student flatmates could help him with this. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon.’

Francis peered over his shoulder, craning his neck so he wouldn’t have to change his position in front of the easel.

‘… “The fact that any two inertial reference frames do not agree on which events are simultaneous will cause the measurement of length to be different in different reference frames”… I have no idea what any of that means.’

Ludwig stared at the page again as he realised what the problem had been.

‘Oh, I kept missing the end of that sentence and merging it with the next… Thanks Francis.’

‘No problem,’ Francis chuckled. ‘Maybe you should take a breather and walk around the next time something doesn’t make sense. I do that when I can’t figure out what my art theory book is trying to tell me.’

‘Same, but with history,’ Feliks’ voice was muffled from the pins he was holding in his mouth as he meticulously pinned the latest piece of sequin covered fabric onto the mannequin.

‘Careful you don’t swallow any of those,’ Ludwig commented, frowning before deciding it might be time to move on to doing another practice exam.

* * *

‘So how’d it go?’ Gilbert asked later that night on the phone.

Ludwig closed the door to his room behind him, prying a needle from a sleeping Feliks’ hand as he answered.

‘Pretty well actually,’ he said as he set the needle down on the desk. ‘Thanks for the advice, Gil.’

‘Yeah, I’m the best,’ Gilbert spoke amidst a yawn.

‘I know,’ Ludwig replied with a laugh. ‘I’m guessing you’re about to go to sleep?’

‘Yeah, I’d love to talk more, but I have an exam tomorrow morning and I’ve been up since six today studying. I actually accidentally woke Arthur up and he called me crazy before going back to sleep. Just cos he only has essays to hand in…’ his words trailed off into another yawn.

‘Good luck with that exam then, my first one’s in three days. Goodnight, Gil.’

‘Good luck to you too. Night, Lutzi.’

* * *

 

Ludwig was fairly confident with his performance in his first two, and had just short of a week to prepare for his next two. His housemates however, were not doing so well. Francis had a day to finish his “masterpiece” as and hand it in with an essay on his techniques and use of colours and was spending his time between adding minute details to his painting and typing furiously on his laptop, flicking through a texting and copying down choice phrases all the while. Feliks had had to set his dressmaking project aside for the history exam he sat the previous day, and now seemed extremely frazzled, misplacing pins, thread and even entire pieces of fabric all around the apartment.

‘That’s it!’ Ludwig heard Feliks announce and looked up just in time to see Feliks throwing a pin cushion to the ground. ‘I going to have to use the sewing machine,’

Ludwig was going to ask Feliks why he hadn’t just used the machine from the start, then realised the answer and Feliks hauled a clunky, worse for wear looking sewing machine from his room.

‘It’s old, but it’s still usable,’ Feliks huffed as he noticed Ludwig eyeing the machine, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than anyone else.  
If the parts that came loose as Feliks set up the machine wasn’t a concern, then the whirring noise when it started up definitely was. Feliks ignored the noise and fed a piece of spare of fabric into the machine, which turned the whirring into a screech as Ludwig watched with horror and Francis looked away from his essay in concern. The fabric tore and Feliks cursed as he adjusted some settings and hit the side of the sewing machine multiple times until it ran without ripping anymore fabric. Feliks then began to work on the actual fabric of his dress, readjusting the setting in intervals so close to each other that Ludwig was worried that Feliks would ruin his own hard work.

At lunch Ludwig offered to try and the sewing machine for Feliks, for the sake of everyone’s peace of mind. Feliks squinted at him for a few moments with evident distrust, then sighed as he remembered Ludwig was an engineering major.

‘Fine, but be careful.’

After leaving his plate in the sink, Feliks scurried into his room in search of the instruction manual for the sewing machine. Ludwig took this opportunity to make a closer inspection of the machine without Feliks breathing down his neck. Having gotten used to these incidences, Ludwig didn’t even flinch as Francis sidled up behind him before speaking.

‘I’d really be careful if I were you,’ he advised. ‘There’s a high possibility Feliks will murder you with a pair of rusty scissors if you mess this up for him.’

Ludwig didn’t doubt that, but he also had little doubt in his abilities in tinkering with simple machinery; having fixed things for his parents since he was in his early teens.

‘I’m sure it won’t come to that,’ he assured Francis.

‘Come to what?’ asked Feliks suspiciously, returning from his room with a small booklet in hand.

‘Oh nothing,’ Francis waved an elegant hand. ‘Ludwig is quite right about me being overly worried about my assessments.’ With that he winked at Ludwig and hissed “ _good luck_ ” before returning to his essay.

Over the next hour, Ludwig studied the mechanical diagrams in the instruction manual, before retrieving the toolbox he’d brought from home and dismantling parts of the machinery with expertise. Feliks paced anxiously around him, filling the space with nervous energy. Nevertheless Ludwig ignored him to the best of his ability, concentrating on the job at hand. Clean the rust of that knob. Tighten that screw. Straighten out that bent lever. Some oil would make it run smoother, but not too much or it would soil the threads. Make sure everything looks like it should on the diagram. When he was satisfied with his work, Ludwig handed the machine back to Feliks, who immediately turned it on. The old sewing machine spluttered to life with a loud clank, and Ludwig’s stomach dropped as Feliks glared at him and Francis shot him a sympathetic look that he caught in the corner of his eye. Without breaking eye contact Feliks stepped onto the foot pedal, looking pleasantly surprised as the needle moved up down through the scrap fabric without a hitch and much sound. He used the machine down the entire length of the fabric, looking more and more impressed as the stitches continued to appearing smoothly without any need for him to make constant adjustments.

‘Thanks Ludwig, I’m definitely going to finishing the assignment soon now. Sorry I doubted you.’

From besides his laptop Francis snorted. Feliks shot him a dirty look, which Francis ignored in favour of making a show of consulting his textbook. Ludwig shook his head but smiled at their antics, picking up his notes from where he’d left them. In just over a week, the exam period would be over, and that, Ludwig thought, would be a relief for all of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, exams are finally over and the trio discuss their plans for vacation.


	6. Vacation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The roommates speculate on how well did (or didn't do) on exams, discuss plans for break, and reflect on a hectic first semester
> 
> Previously: Exam stress really got to everyone in the apartment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update because this chapter is extremely short and serves as more of an epilogue

Finally all their exams and assessments were over and everyone in the apartment could relax. Well, relax as much as they could while anticipating the release of their results. The three housemates sat together in the room Ludwig and Feliks shared, each holding a mug of coffee that Francis had made – apparently he’d done some barista training during his study-free year. Francis lounged lazily beside Feliks on his bed, and Feliks – lying on his stomach with his feet behind his head – didn’t seem to mind. Ludwig sat across from both of them, cross legged on his own bed, cupping his coffee with both hands and feeling the warmth radiate from it.

‘And now we wait,’ Feliks mused, swirling the contents of his mug.

‘I wonder if anyone will realise how much bullshit I put in my essay,’ Francis shrugged after he spoke, taking a sip of his coffee. ‘Drink up Ludwig, it’s not like I spiked it or anything.’

‘That inspires so much confidence,’ Feliks snorted, but drank nevertheless. ‘And which essay? The art theory one or the philosophy one?’

‘Both,’ Francis admitted. ‘But everyone bullshits philosophy anyway.’

Feliks cackled triumphantly.

‘So you admit it!’ he crowed. ‘Philosophy is just pretentious bullshit!’

‘I never said anything about it being pretentious…’

Ludwig decided to interrupt before an argument could break out.

‘I’m not sure how I did,’ he confessed.

It was true that he’d been confident with the way he’d prepared for his exams and his perceived performance in them right after he’d finished, but as time went on he was beginning to what he’d done. He’d done his best, but what if it wasn’t enough. What if everything he’d written down on his exam papers had been wrong.

‘You probably did just fine, Ludwig,’ Feliks reassured him, setting his mug down on the carpet so that he could cross his arms. ‘You did like _twenty_ practice exams for each subject. You’re probably going to be on the Honour Roll for everything.’

‘You spent more time studying than doing anything else during the entire exam period,’ Francis pointed out.

‘Yeah,’ Feliks picked up his drink again. ‘One time I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, and you were just muttering equations in your sleep.’

‘Did I really do that?’ Ludwig asked. There was a high chance Feliks was telling the truth as Gilbert had mentioned him the same embarrassing thing another time he was particularly anxious.

‘You did,’ Feliks confirmed. ‘I was kinda creeped out at first, because the room was all dark, but then I turned the lights on you you were just tossing around and muttering so I figured you were sleep talking.’

‘Oh,’

‘This is why I wanted my own room,’ Francis said with undisguised amusement.

‘Why?  Because you sleep talk?’ Feliks laughed, then leaned over to give Ludwig a hi-five, which Ludwig returned once he realised what was happening.

It was rare for Francis to take being the brunt of a joke gracefully, but that he did, and changed the subject.

‘So we about a month’s break from study now. Do you guys have any plans?’

‘Oh wow, freedom!’ Feliks exclaimed, eyes wide as the amount of time they had hit him. ‘I don’t know… Sleep, I guess. What about you, Ludwig?’

Ludwig thought about it for a moment.

‘I’m going to go back home,’ he answered honestly. ‘See my parents and my brother, pet all of the dogs... I’ve missed them all.’

‘Sounds about right,’ Feliks nodded. ‘I’ll go see my family _and_ catch up on all the sleep I missed.’

‘That’s something to start with,’ Francis agreed. ‘But that can’t be _all_ you’re planning to do.’

‘Sure it can!’ Feliks rebutted. ‘Just watch me!’

‘I mean aren’t you going to do other things? Have fun? _Live_?’

‘Isn’t that what you did all last year? “Living”?’

‘Yes, but that’s something you should do as often as possible,’

‘You sound exactly like a philosophy student,’ Feliks shook his head and took a large gulp of coffee.

‘I _am_ a philosophy student,’ Francis’ expression made it clear he knew precisely what Feliks had meant.

‘That’s what I meant!’ Feliks fell for the bait, having missed the look on Francis’ face.

Ludwig smiled and drank from his mug as he watched his friends bicker yet again, too used to the scenario to be anything but amused. He thought back on the semester that had just past – sure there had been some rough patches with their living situation at points, but it’d mostly worked itself out in the end. So when Feliks called a truce to comment on how he’d miss everyone over the break, Ludwig couldn’t help but agree. There had been some strange moments in the apartment, but it had been worth getting to know his housemates.

‘We’ll be seeing each other again when the next semester starts,’ Francis commented dryly.

‘That doesn’t mean we can’t miss each other!’

‘Feliks is right, you know,’ Ludwig laughed, joining in as the other two clinked their mugs together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This marks the end of the first multi-chapter fic I've posted on this site. I hoped you enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am planning to write both a spinoff of and a sequel for this AU, but I don't have any set dates for posting them yet.


End file.
